Why the VA owns golf clubhouses, barns and a smoking shelter and how it's trying to unload them

There's a vacant golf clubhouse in Salem, Va. A smoking shelter in Battle Creek, Mich. And even an old trolley house in West Los Angeles.

The buildings are among 430 across the nation — many dating to the 1800s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places — owned by the Department of Veterans Affairs and no longer in use.

Now, the VA is trying to get rid of them, a move that could save the agency as much as $7 million a year but could mean some of the buildings face an uncertain future. The VA is aggressively trying to reuse the facilities, sell them or demolish them altogether.

The list of buildings, obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK, shows the VA owns hundreds of housing facilities, old theaters, golf clubhouses and other peculiar buildings. VA owns golf clubhouses

The bill was reported to the full House of Representatives by a vote of 60 yeas to 1 no. The FY18 NDAA authorizes $592.8 billion for national defense programs as well as an additional $74.6 billion for overseas contingency operations. The bill moves to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

Tom Ward hasn’t stood in formation in more than three decades, but the Marine veteran lives with a degenerative disease the Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed is connected to his service so many years ago